As we had a good response to my post on Lost 60s TV Cartoons I thought this might make a good follow up.
Wanna good snapshot of 1960s TV cartoons that have been virtually forgotten and rarely celebrated? Look to the children’s coloring books that were issued by various pulp publishers during that decade. Today we present a gallery of covers – for characters that I didn’t mention (or barely mentioned) in last week’s post. In some cases the coloring book images are better than the actual cartoons (Sinbad Jr. is one) – in other cases, the coloring book art might discourage you from ever sampling the show (Super Six is an example of that). That said, here’s a bunch of baby boomer memories – in alphabetic order:
ASTRO BOY (NBC Enterprises)
Created by Osamu Tezuka in 1952 – and brought to television in 1963 with Tezuka in charge of the studio and stories – this was the first animated series made for Japan television, and the first anime brought to the US (by Fred Ladd). Like the dubbing – this cover is a little inaccurate (Astro’s coloring: pink and yellow?). Great show – better than the coloring book would suggest.
ASTRONUT (Terrytoons)
A “new Terrytoon” character, cashing in on the “Space Race” trend of the 1960s – and somewhat ripping off the live action comedy series My Favorirte Martian – the character was introduced in a 1963 Deputy Dawg cartoon, and was spun off into his own shorts distributed to theaters by Fox in 1964. The Astronut Show was a syndicated by CBS in 1965. Astronut looks somewhat cool, but don’t be fooled by the sci-fi graphics. It’s still a Terrytoon.
CLUTCH CARGO (Cambria)
Does anyone here NOT know Clutch Cargo? Raise your hands – or speak up with your “live action lips”! More about the character can be learned if you CLICK HERE.
CLYDE CRASHCUP (Format Films)
Everyone’s favorite supporting characters from the original prime time THE ALVIN SHOW (1961). Voiced by Shepherd Menkin – these Crashcup cartoons were incredibly clever – and unforgettable. Each episode featured Crashcup demonstrating how he invented common things – like “baseball” and “shoes”.
COURAGEOUS CAT (Sam Singer)
Good ‘ol Sam Singer (the “Ed Wood” of animation). Teaming up with Batman creator Bob Kane – a few years before Kane’s greatest creation (with Bill Finger) struck it rich as a weekly live action show – Kane ripped-off himself in conceiving Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse. The super hero duo rode around in a Cat Mobile and lived in a Cat-Cave. And fought several outrageous villains – but mainly “The Frog”. To say this is the best show Singer produced is not the compliment you think it is. Especially if you know his work.
CRUSADER RABBIT (Jay Ward)
Jay Ward and Alex Anderson (Paul Terry’s nephew) created this – the first cartoon series for television – in 1949. A mainstay of 1950s kids shows, Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger were definitely the template for all the cartoon duos to come.
THE FUNNY COMPANY (Pantomime Pictures)
Major warning – any show that has to tell you in its title that it’s “funny”… isn’t. This series from 1963 was one of the first (if not the first) educational ‘toons that were being encouraged during this era – as cartoons were further perceived as children’s fare. Others followed (including Do-Do The Kid From Outer Space, The Big World of Little Adam and Max The 2000 Year Old Mouse). I recall liking the character designs, the voices (by Dick Beals, Nancy Wible, Hal Smith, among others) and even that opening theme song – but the Funny Company cartoons themselves were (to me) a BORE.
HOPPITY HOOPER (Jay Ward)
Hoppity Hooper was Jay Ward’s follow up to Rocky & Bullwinkle, made for ABC Saturday morning, and thus skewed a little more towards the kids. That said, it’s still a fun show that doesn’t deserve the obscurity it seems to have today.
KIMBA, THE WHITE LION (NBC Enterprises)
Kimba The White Lion was Osamu’s Tezuka’s show, based on his famous “Jungle Emperor” manga. Like Astro Boy, NBC picked it up for US syndication and hired Fred Ladd to dub it in English. The original Japanese series ran 52 episodes – an additional “season” of 26 episodes featuring Kimba as an adult character were held off from the original 1966 syndication. This show was, I believe, the first anime series produced in color. It has a huge following – particularly among “furries” – and was the center of controversy over similarities in Disney’s The Lion King (1994).
KING LEONARDO AND HIS SHORT SUBJECTS (Total Television)
The first series from Total Television – a company sharing the animation services of Gamma Studios with Jay Ward. An all-star New York-based voice cast which included Jackson Beck and Allen Swift. The Total shows aren’t as funny as the Ward shows – but they have their charms.
KING FEATURES TRILOGY (AND POPEYE)
If rushing to produce 220 made-for-TV Popeye cartoons in 1960 wasn’t enough, producer Al Brodax pushed through 150 more cartoons utilizing several other comic strip favorites in King Features Syndicate’s arsenal: Krazy Kat, Snuffy Smith and Beetle Baily (50 cartoons each). There are nuggets of gold in these if one wants to wade through them – Jim Tyer’s animation in the Snuffy’s, Gene Deitch’s animation and art direction in the Krazy’s – and Alan Melvin and Howie Morris having a lot of vocal fun in the Beetle Bailey’s.
LAUREL AND HARDY (Hanna-Barbera/Larry Harmon)
We all love Stan and Ollie – but it’s unanimous that these cartoons don’t come close to keeping their spirit alive. Larry Harmon should never have been granted the rights to exploit Laurel & Hardy… but he got them. Hanna Barbera produced the cartoons as a work-for-hire. The shorts (there are 250 of them) are not generally available – and not many people care.
MARINE BOY (Seven Arts)
Marine Boy is back on MeTV Toons. It was dubbed by the same team who did Speed Racer but it doesn’t have the same charm. That said – I like the show. Call it a childhood guilty pleasure.
THE MIGHTY HERCULES (Joe Oriolo)
The theme song. Helena. Newton. Another childhood guilty pleasure.
ROGER RAMJET (Pantomime Pictures)
Next to the Jay Ward shows – this is the funniest set of TV cartoons to come from the mid-1960s. The animation is crazy limited – but funny drawings abound. The gags are often over the heads of the kiddie crowd – and Gary Owens is terrific as “Roger”.
SINBAD JR. (Sam Singer/Hanna Barbera)
Another horrifying Sam Singer production. So bad – that American International dismissed Singer and hired Hanna Barbera to finish the order for 130 shorts.
SUPER SIX (DePatie-Freleng)
Depatie Freleng’s first TV series – and it’s a good one – but you wouldn’t know it from the cover of this coloring book. This and a frame-tray puzzle I think were the only merchandising done for this series.
TALES OF THE WIZARD OF OZ (Rankin-Bass) / OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD (MGM)
The Wizard Of Oz is such a classic – producers still, to this day, keep trying to make something animated to exploit those characters further. The Rankin Bass Tales Of The Wizard Of Oz was a good attempt to bring them to animation in a stylized way. MGM (who produced the 1939 live action classic) had Chuck Jones do an adaptation – as bridging footage during the commercial brakes on an MGM family movie night series in 1967.
Yeah – I know – there’s more. Tell me about it in the comments below.
